The Villainess’ Kindergarten

Late morning. I woke up startled by the warmth rushing into my arms. What? As I barely woke up and couldn’t understand the situation, I lifted the blanket and saw something twitching in my arms. I narrowed my eyes. I saw purple hair shining faintly in the moonlight.

 

Jasmine?

 

For a moment I felt relieved that it was not a strange object, but then I felt puzzled. Why was Jasmine here?

 

“Mom… “Why are you coming now?”

 

I was looking at Jasmine blankly, and the words that came out of the child’s small mouth made her cover my mouth. Come to think of it, I heard that this was the room used by previous Duchesses. Perhaps she had mistaken me for her mother. When I stayed still, not knowing what to do in this unexpected situation, Jasmine hugged me more tightly. There were already tears in the child’s eyes.

 

“Hug Jo, quickly… Hello.”

 

I hugged Jasmine as tears threatened to fall at any moment. Then Jasmine hugged my neck. I stood up, holding the child. As I slowly walked around the room and patted her back, she quickly fell asleep again. When did she come? I still didn’t understand the situation, so I quietly looked at Jasmine in my arms and wiped away the tears from her small eyes. She was lonely.

 

“It’s okay, I’m here now.”

 

I whispered, stroking Jasmine’s back. Then Jasmine’s panting quieted down. I carefully placed the child in the bed and lay on her side. At that time, someone knocked on the door.

 

Knock, knock.

 

Who was it this time? As I tilted my head, I opened my mouth.

 

“Who is it?”

 

A young boy’s voice answered my question.

 

“I’m really sorry if I woke you up. Can I come in?”

 

After I gave permission, the door opened and Ren, dressed in pajamas, came into the room. As he looked around, he looked relieved when he found Jasmine sleeping while hugging me.

 

“As expected, she was here.”

 

Ren fixed his eyes on Jasmine and he walked towards me. His red eyes looked sad beyond his age.

 

“Sorry. It didn’t look good.”

 

Ren approached me, speaking in an adult manner, and opened his arms as if asking for Jasmine to be given to him.

 

“I’ll take her to her room and come back.”

 

As Ren said those words, he looked very dignified for his age. This was something I heard a lot even when I grew up early. I felt bad for him because I thought it wasn’t a good thing that the child grew up early.

 

“It’s okay, I want to sleep with Jasmine too. Can I sleep with Jasmine?”

 

At my words, Ren shook his head. And this time he opened his arms higher. His expression was so stubborn that I became even more worried. That was definitely not an expression that a child would make.

 

“No. You don’t have to overdo it.”

 

At his words, I hugged Ren with my opposite arm.

 

“Ren, you are still eight years old. You’re still a child, so it’s okay to rely on adults a little more.”

 

There was no answer from him, but he didn’t even try to get out of my arms. After thinking for a moment, I sat down on the bed and knocked on the spot next to me. The bed in my room was quite large, enough for three adults to lie down on it.

 

“It’s still cold. Come here, Ren.”

 

Ren couldn’t even approach me, he just stood there and hesitated. I knocked on the bed again and he cautiously came next to me. When I pulled his arm, Ren squirmed and lay down on the bed. Seeing that, I smiled in satisfaction and held Jasmine with one arm and pillowed Ren with the other hand.

 

“Okay, let’s sleep now, Ren.”

 

“…yes.”

 

* * *

 

Yellow morning sunlight shone through the window. When I woke up, I smiled at Jasmine and Ren who were sleeping soundly next to me. At that time, the door opened and Lorna, holding a kettle, came into my room. She looked confused for a moment when she saw the two children lying next to me, but when I lifted my finger and put it to my mouth, she nodded.

 

“Please leave the kettle.”

 

I mouthed the words to her and she put down her kettle, closed her curtains, bowed to me and went out of the room. I looked down at the two children. The children who were sleeping and breathing evenly looked like angels. Then, Ren opened his eyes. His eyes met mine in the air and his face turned red. I smiled because it looked like a tomato.

 

“Good morning, Ren.”

 

I greeted him and he nodded, covering his newly red face with the blanket. I got up from his seat and poured him some water. It was moderately lukewarm water. After confirming that Ren had finished drinking the water, I looked at him and stretched him, raising his arms to the sky. It was a rule at the daycare center where I worked as a teacher to have children stretch after putting them down for a nap. Ren looked at me blankly as if he didn’t know what I was doing as I stretched.

 

“Try after me, if you do this every morning, you will grow taller faster?”

 

At my words, Ren awkwardly raised his arms to the sky. Seeing that, I grabbed his arms and pulled him up.

 

“Go further, stronger!”

 

Ren, who lowered his arms, nodded strongly as if he liked the stretching. I thought he was cute and patted his head.

 

“Good job.”

 

Then his face turned red.

 

Jasmine, who had just woken up and was dozing off next to me, came up to me and hugged my waist. Then she opened her eyes and looked at me. Her eyes met mine and Jasmine tilted her head and opened her mouth in tears.

 

“Mom… No… ”

 

It was an instant. Before Ren and I had time to stop her, she burst into tears and started crying as if she was going to leave her mansion.

 

“Mom…! Mom!!”

 

At that sound, the maids who were looking for Jasmine and Ren came into my room knocking. I touched my throbbing head. A voice of this magnitude would probably have been heard by Baridas, who was in the room next door. The person who appeared to be Jasmine’s dedicated maid hugged her, comforted her, and comforted her, but she could not stop her tears. A look of distress passed over the maid’s face, and I took Jasmine from her as she looked worried. She obediently handed Jasmine over to me. When the hugger changed, Jasmine stopped crying for a moment and checked my face.

 

When she confirmed that I was not her mother, she started crying again, calling for her mother as if she was tired. I didn’t know if this method would work. Although it was a bit cruel to a child looking for her mother, getting her to stop crying was the priority for now. I lowered her face and whispered in Jasmine’s ear.

 

“If you keep crying, I won’t give you a snack later.”

 

Jasmine stopped crying in an instant at my words.

 

It was a method I used at a daycare center, and it seems to work here as well. As expected, snacks seemed to be the best for young children. I looked around and found soup and bread being held by the maids. It occurred to me that nobles would fill their breakfast with simple things like bread and soup. But breakfast was important for a growing child. While I was thinking about it, I patted Jasmine’s back, who was still crying, and held Ren’s hand.

 

“Shall we eat breakfast together?”

 

“Yes!”

 

At Ren’s answer, I turned my attention back to the maids and looked for Lorna and Lena. They were looking at me from a distance, not knowing what to do.

 

“Lorna, Lena. You guys please bring me some clothes and the kids’ clothes. Then prepare the food in the dining hall and have just one person bring the children’s clothes, and the others can go back and do their own thing.”

 

After hearing my words, the maids dispersed and Lorna and Lena brought me a calming-looking blue dress. After confirming that the dress didn’t have too many decorations, I changed my clothes. It was a dress that was a million times more comfortable than the one I wore yesterday. And they brought each child a set of clothes and dressed them up. After confirming that the children had all changed their clothes, I held Ren and Jasmine’s hands, one in each hand.

 

“Let’s go eat.”

 

When I went down to the dining hall, there were sausages and fried eggs well-cooked on three plates. There was also soup, bread, and salad. This should be enough to call it breakfast.

 

I nodded. As I sat down, the children followed me and sat down at the table.

 

“Thank you for this food.”

 

“It’s bittersweet to eat well.”

 

After greeting each other in turn, the two children picked up spoons and forks and began eating breakfast. I ate and had a small conversation with Ren, and I found out that he was a much more polite child than I thought. After finishing the meal, I called Lorna who was waiting next to me and asked the kids.

 

“What do you want for dessert?”

 

The two children’s eyes sparkled at my words. Ren said he wanted apple tart and Jasmine said she wanted pudding. I asked Lorna to bring me two dishes. After eating her fill of dessert, Jasmine told me she wanted to go for a walk, so I held the hands of the two children and came out of the dining hall. And just as I entered the garden, I stopped when I saw an unexpected person.

 

It was Baridas. He was standing at the entrance to the garden, staring at me. Then his eyes moved from me to the children. I felt like my body was freezing under his cold red eyes, even though I had done nothing wrong.

 

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Translator Note: